Virtual Star Embryology: Martian Heaven
by JudeDeluca
Summary: VSE Spin-off. Animated Legion. A girl from an alternate Earth is thrown into the Legion's time, and following behind her is a dangerous dueling game, Legionnaires from another world, and a force of cold, calculating rage. Rules of the Rose Seal.
1. 00 Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

_Disclaimer: I do not own Legion of Super-Heroes, Sandman, Kingdom Come or Revolutionary Girl Utena. Sweet Dreams owned by the Eurythmics. I do however own Ebony Dent. The best I could after so long. **Not for the squeamish**._

**Revolutionary Girl Utena**: A manga created by Chiho Saito, later turned into an anime, about the story of Utena Tenjou, a girl who wanted to become a prince and the dueling game for the power to revolutionize the world, centered around Anthy Himemiya, the Rose Bride, and the puppet master called End of the World.

**Virtual Star Embryology**: The second end theme to the anime _Revolutionary Girl Utena._

**Shadow Girls**: The "chorus" of Utena, who are seen only as silhouettes, or shadowed over. They appear behind the scenes, giving allegorical advice and a summation of the episode's events. They are made up of A-Ko, B-Ko, C-Ko, E-Ko, and F-Ko. There is an entire studio filled with them.

**The Bleed**: The space between the Multiverse. People without 4-D perspective are not able to fully comprehend the Bleed upon seeing it.

**Earth-22**: Universe designate twenty-two in the Multiverse. Home to the _Kingdom Come _timeline created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross.

**The Dreaming**: The realm where people go when they sleep, ruled by Dream of the Endless.

* * *

**Previously**:

In _Virtual Star Embryology_, chapter one, Ebony Dent was giving her rose crest ring and a position as a duelist in the dueling game. Upon defeating the once patriotic spirit of America, Uncle Sam, on the Metropolis Bridge, Ebony fell unconscious, and was sucked into the Bleed.

In chapters two and three, Hypnotia manipulated events so the duelist of her world, Ginger Anderson, would accept her invitation in the game.

Now, we take a look at Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad discussing a dream. But these are not the ones you'd expect.

**Martian Heaven Prologue**

**Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)**

_The Bleed_

A solitary figure floats alone in the red space between universes. A red rose pinned to her breast.

_New Earth, 3008, Metropolis_

It has been a long day, and husband and wife set aside their worries for the next day. They sleep. They dream. And so does their friend.

_The Dreaming_

_The circus has come to town. Listen to what the performers have in store for you in the center ring._

_The chanting is low, but as the shadows abate, it gets louder._

_"...Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids!"_

_Their faces are grotesque, nightmarish, bizarre. Technicolor skin, garish make-up, ugly clothing. The voices of dreams, eaten and dead. They are the **Dead Moon Circus**._

_"I've figured it out! I've figured it out, I've figured it out, I've figured it out!" "Yep! Captain Johnny has finally figured it out for himself!" the masked man exclaims._

_"He's realized now that a boy can be a prince when he's still a boy." The fat lady says._

_"And then..." "He'll also realize..." the two-faced woman starts. __"That as a prince the boy can turn any girl he rescues into a princess." The strong man finishes as the bird on his head caws._

_"But the same can't be said for his sister." PallaPalla, the ball rider says. __"So his sister will become a witch!" The twins say. __"And all that will be left for the broken prince is to grow up and become End of the World." CereCere, the flower magician reveals._

_"Why does the boy stop being a prince?" The juggler asks. __"Why can't he simply..." "Stay as a prince?" The midgets inquire. __"Because as an adult he can no longer fulfill his dream once the illusion of hope and innocence is shattered." VesVes, the animal trainer informs. __"So he'll scheme to reclaim his lost power until it all comes crashing down like a castle in the sky." JunJun, the acrobat states._

_"Don't dream that you're all grown up big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids! Don't dream that you're all grown up, big dreams are best just for kids!"_

_"Quiet! Leave this place at once! You're ad-libs are not needed." The freaks and monsters disappear back into the darkness. The man dressed in white comes into the scene._

_"Ah, welcome, wary listeners. You must be tired after your journey. Come, sit and listen."_

_"There is a struggle coming soon, that you will face. But, until then, there is something else. Two Legions before Three. There is something dark and malignant which has broken in, beyond the reaches of the farthest shore of the 52 and the worlds beyond."_

_"I will tell you only part of what is coming because it pertains to this world. To be truthful, this was not foreseen, and I tell you now this story because you will find the necessary pieces in your return. __I tell you not for pity, not for admiration, but so you may understand. This is no Crisis. It is a Revolution."_

_"Once upon a time, in world twenty-one times displaced from your own, there was chaos. __The Prince of Hate made his mark in ninety-three that day. The Last Son abandoned the world, when the Golden Calf slaughtered the Prince of Hate. And the Calf was praised by the sheep for it. __Ten years. The chaos has gone on. The worshippers of the Calf made themselves known, while the followers of the Last Son struggled in his absence."_

_"And there was a circus."_

_"The circus had left town. The performers gone home, the stands closed up. All that remained was the tatters of the big top. __Under the big top, the Clown waited in the center ring. __It's make-up was smudged and peeling from crusty tears. It's smile is yellow and cavity enriched. It's body, racked with pain in a ripped costume. __It had no jokes to tell that hadn't been told a million times. Even still, they weren't funny. __It could not understand hope. It spat at compassion. It had no love. But there is one joke it had been waiting to tell, the Clown under the big top. The girl."_

_"With hair as black as a raven's wing and deep green eyes. And a mother who loved her with all her heart. Before the crash. __The girl was snatched from her cradle. The Clown would have turned her into it's greatest punchline, but that punchline backfired before she knew it."_

_"The girl, a young woman, ran after a dozen years. Nowhere to go, she found her way to a garden, in the black chaos. Where she was safe. Where she only needed one true friend to trust. __The orchid. That which had not wilted. The orchid with it's violet petals and warm heart."_

_"Two years. The girl wandered from the garden, for just a little while, for a celebration. Her drink laced, she was used like a toy in some fool's drunken depravity in unforeseen events. __She may have been careful, she may have been at fault, but things happen to all of us that are beyond our control. Some of you, and some of your friends, understand this. __Now, a life grew in the girl's belly, a baby she would love for all eternity and beyond, as her own mother had, before the crash."_

_"__Despite some misgivings, the girl was happy. With the orchid. And her baby. Before it found her again. The Clown. __In one more attempt at a punchline, it destroyed the orchid, ripped it's petals piece by piece until it wilted. __It ripped the baby from the girl, and shattered it before her eyes, looking for the missing link that it tried to find in the girl. To complete the joke. __The girl, lost in her fury, tried to kill the Clown, until sense returned once more, and she left to grieve her lost ones. __The Clown screamed for her to finish the punchline. To complete the joke. And the big top fell in on it."_

_"Two years. The girl has left the garden, bearing the brand the Clown has given her. Wrapped in shadows, she will speak of evil, she will hear of evil, she will see evil. And she will punish evil. A warrior, living in a fallen kingdom. __But, the genocide created by the Golden Calf will weaken her, and she will be taken in by false promises. This is necessary. She is part of the equation."_

_"The warrior. The queen. The soldier. The musician. The angel. The vampire. They are a part of the revolution. To become princes. __The prince. The princess. __They must fall. So they may rise."_

_"And what of the Clown? It has been there, lost under the big top, it's white and black outfit chewed at by maggots as they chew into it's tainted flesh. __Death will not take the Clown. It has been chained to it's shrunken, twisted form, in the space between worlds. Looking over a domain where it does not exist."_

_"And then, HE came. The fallen one. The puppet master. The devil in the red car. __His servant, blinded by greed and bearing sacrifices to awaken it's rage. __Rising from the big top, the white has been stained with crimson red. It's flesh rejuvenated. The pain, evaporated. It is powered by only one thing. Rage. __It wants vengeance. It wants to fulfill the final punchline. It is not the Prince of Hate. It is the Harlequin."_

_"It works with six others. __A seducer, a vain demon from the Black Planet, a war monger, a self-proclaimed god, and the leaders of an old and twisted family. __It's rage is controlled. But it is powerful. It knows of pain and watches from the shadows in glass. It will do everything to make the warrior suffer, before she can become the hero of THIS story. I__t will come for them. And it will come for you, but it wants those LIKE you. Do any of you want to know what it's like? To be the clown at midnight? When there is only one joke and it is always on you?"_

_BONG BONG. BONG BONG._

_"Rest assured, this is real. And it will come for you."_

_The man in white picks up a bundle on the floor. He opens it, to reveal the bleeding remains of an infant._

_BONG BONG. BONG BONG._

_"**And it will make your children BLEED**."_

_The man in white removed his glasses, to reveal eye sockets lined with jagged teeth, dripping with blood. And then all they hear is the sound of the girl screaming as her insides are ripped open in the shape of an X, followed by a girl being stabbed by millions of swords as the Earth is destroyed by a falling castle._

_"**Scared yet**?" the jaws ask._

_BONG BONG. BONG BONG._

The two awoke, in a cold sweat. They were breathing hard. It was midnight.

"Oh. Oh geez." he said, wiping off some sweat from his brow. "Imra? What is it?"

"Garth. I'm sorry, I just had a bad dream. That's all. I didn't mean to wake you" Imra said. One of them turned on the lights in their room. "It's alright, I had one too. Though I don't know if I could call THAT a bad dream." Garth scratched the back of his head as Imra tried to start breathing normally again. "What was yours about?" she asks. "Well usually my nightmares involve Brainy doing _Singin' in the Rain_in a pink leotard, but... what was yours about?"

"The end of the world. A circus, a giant castle, a man with no eyes, a dead baby and-"

"-a clown." The word escapes their lips at the same time. They stare at one another, shocked, before Garth says, "Imra did you broadcast your-" "Wait. It's Rokk." _Rokk? Imra, what is it?_

Over in his room, Rokk is shaking off a bad dream. A dream of the end of the world. No biggie, they've faced the end of the world hundreds of time. But it was those teeth...

_Rokk, did you have a bad dream? _Imra speaks with him telepathically, a gift all Titanians share. _Yeah, I guess so_. _What was it about? _Imra asks. _Earth being destroyed, a man with teeth for eyes, and- -there was a clown, a harlequin._Imra finished for him. _Imra, did you read my mind? _he asks. _Rokk, meet me and Garth in the control room, and start typing in the description of the girl with the black hair_. Rokk sighed, but he still couldn't shake that dream.

Rokk Krinn. Cosmic Boy. Co-Founder of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Leader.

"Imra, what is it? Talk to me." Garth tries to get an answer out of her. She can see the concern in his eyes.

Garth and Imra Ranzz. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. Co-Founders of the Legion. Husband and wife. Parents.

"This is crazy." Garth said. Indeed it was. Here were the three Legion founders, in the middle of the night, in their pajamas, shaken by a crazy dream and looking for information on a girl who may not exist. If only the other Legionnaires could see them. It seems that the craziness was in no short supply for the Legion. Everything had been going so fast. Earth-Man and his racist rejects convincing Earth Superman was a human. Going underground. Seeing Kal again for the first time in years. Lu and Val, dead. Again. But, total craziness was just your average day with the Legion of Super-Heroes.

It wasn't the girl that scared them, it wasn't the clown, it was that man, with the teeth, and his omnious words. The dead baby. And the castle falling into Earth. Why did this shake them so bad? It almost felt like the trouble with Darkseid all over again. But no.

"Imra, you're absolutely sure you weren't broadcasting your thoughts?" Garth asked. "You know I have better control over my thoughts, Garth." "For one of us to have a prophetic dream would be odd." Rokk said. "But all three of us?"

"It had to do with the Legion. It was warning us that something bad is coming for us. And that girl, whoever she is, has an important part." Imra explained.

Rokk was typing in the dream girl's description into the mainframe, to get a composite image that would hopefully find a link in whatever files COMPUTO had.

"We don't even know her name or where she's from, guys. This could just be someone trying to mess with us." Garth tried to convince them.

"'Sides, what are the chances that we'll find a-" **File Found. Breep! **"-match." Garth finished. "Oh ye of little faith." Rokk joked. The files popped up on the screen. The names were in bold.

**Name: Ebony Rosalynne Dent. A.K.A. X. DECEASED.**

On the screen, an image of a teenage girl with long, raven hair and olive green eyes, dressed in a black body suit, with black lace-up boots, gloves, and a bandanna mask covering her mouth and noise. Two more images popped up. One of the girl wearing black jeans and a t-shirt reading "Penny Farthing." A third, showed her about two years younger, bruised and bleeding, and a jagged, stitched up scar on her stomach in the shape of an X. A newspaper clipping read "**Insane Bridge Duel Ends In Young Woman's Disappearance**." and another reading "**Secret Life of Metropolis Teen Revealed**." "**Teen Vigilante One Of Many Killed By Mad Scientist**." Another picture, of a group of missing teen vigilantes and a crazy looking scientist.

_She's so young_, Rokk thought. But they were even younger when they started the Legion, on that fateful day when they saved the life of the richest man in the universe. Now it's the team leader kicking in, the sense of obligation. This girl has no ties to the Legion, but somehow, someone took an interest enough to make one. And if it affects the Legion, he would get involved. The Legion was everything now. Being leader was everything now. So his friends would not have to bear that. So they could have a life. Even if he couldn't.

**Known Family: Allison Jeanette Dent, MOTHER. DECEASED.**

A picture of an older woman, with wavy black hair and baby blue eyes, popped up. Followed by frozen adverts for clothing brands and various philanthropic organizations. "**Rising Model Allison Dent Selected for _Monde_**"**. **The next picture showed her advertising the fragrance _Verity_ for _Monde_. "**Allison Dent Leads Aid Mission To Sahara**." "**Model Forgoes Career To Raise Child**.", followed by another, dated about a year later, reading "**Former Model Dies In Car Crash. Leaves Behind Infant Daughter To Child Services**."

**Thomas Corbet, A.K.A. Neon the Unknown, FATHER. DECEASED.**

The girl's father, dressed in super-hero costume like pirate garb. The image was old, black and white, probably from the 1940s. The man called Neon was with a group at Pearl Harbor called the Freedom Fighters. There was a second for a group called the All-Star Squadron, showing Neon with some of his teammates from the Freedom Fighters.

**Suzy Black, A.K.A. Black Orchid III, FRIEND. DECEASED.**

An image of woman, no, plant, no, it was hard to describe. Black Orchid had violet skin, gossamer hair that flowed in the air, and a white streak that went over her eyes. There was a picture of Suzy together with a younger Ebony, but the age put the Orchid as only a few years older. There were two others. A woman in a violet super-hero costume, **Susan Linden-Thorne, Black Orchid I, DECEASED**, and someone who looked almost identical to Suzy. **Flora Black Weems, A.K.A. Black Orchid II, DECEASED.**

**Susan Alice Dent, DAUGHTER, DECEASED.**

There was no picture of the girl's daughter, except for an ultrasound of a fetus. Medical reports taken during the pregnancy. And an order from cremation. _Ripped her baby... _Imra thought about what kind of torture that could be. She, and Garth, hadn't seen their son since the whole craziness with Earth-Man started. Left him with her parents on Titan. _Graym_. They think it at the same time. It's maternal instincts kicking in. But why was this first? A dream about a dead baby and she's looking for a stranger. But the child in the dream was not Graym. It was _not_. No, she knew her baby was alright. _They_knew their child was safe. With Titanian mothers, the bond between mother and child can be especially strong. If faraway on other worlds. Even if the exception was during that time with the Time Trapper. The mother can hear their child's thoughts, be able to have a bond deeper and more profound then most parents. Of course, not being able to hear your child's cry was worse. Far worse. _Poor girl_. Imra lamented what having a dead child could do to a person.

Garth looked at how old the girl was when she was pregnant, fifteen, and started to get mad. He got mad a lot lately, but there was a lot to be mad at. He didn't know what was so important about this girl, but he could not understand what kind of fucked-up lunatic would mutilate a girl and her baby, or what kind of monster would take advantage of someone. He couldn't understand it even in his time. While Imra wouldn't use those exact words, they both felt the same way. Of course, Imra thought there was good in everyone. _Not in this psycho_. But he did know what kind of person would use a child to strike at the parents. Garth knew well enough from personal experience. With children, it's a whole 'nother set of rules with the bad guys.

**Marcie Cooper King, A.K.A. Harlequin III, STEPMOTHER, DECEASED.**

This time, a picture popped up of a woman with curly blonde hair, in a black and white jester's outfit and blue goggles. A second image showed her, older and worn, in a wheelchair. "**INJUSTICE UNLIMITED HARLEQUIN KILLS FORMER STAR-SPANGLED KID**." "**REFORMED VILLAIN MARRIES BANKING KING**."

"So what exactly makes her so special? This, Ebony Dent?" Garth asked. Imra looked over at the near end of the screen, and saw what her homeworld was. **Earth, Universe-Designate Twenty-Two**.

"Earth-22? That's the Earth Thom got sent to by mistake." Imra asked.

Indeed, their teammate, Thom Kallor of Xanthu, now called Starman, was part of a team sent to the 21st Century on a special mission. But an accident sent Thom into the universe called Earth-22, an Earth, according to Brainiac 5, where the super-human society ran wild. It was an Earth where metahumans followed the example of an anti-hero named Magog, after he killed the Joker for his slaughter at the Daily Planet. He was acquitted, and the public named him the New Man of Tomorrow. The shame of losing his wife, his friends, and being cast aside, caused that Earth's Superman to retreat for ten years. Ten years of chaos. The dream was starting to make sense. Lucky for them the Time Institute was gracious to give them whatever information on the Multiverse they had. Helps when you're friends with the staff. And when you have a 12th-Level Intellect who knew more than the Institute did.

They clicked open the news footage from the "duel", when Miss Dent fainted. That hole she was sucked into, they knew what it was.

"The Bleed." Rokk said.

"Aw, sprock." Garth said.

"These clippings only say she was seen with the rest of those dead girls. That's hardly proof she's dead." Imra said.

"Someone went to a lot of trouble to make it look like this girl died." Rokk stated. "Someone didn't want anyone noticing." "And for whatever reason, she has some connection to the Legion." Imra finished. "_A_ Legion", Garth corrected. "If she's been left in the Bleed, who knows where she landed?"

Then, something unexpected happened. Rokk pulled up another file on the girl, in the folder that kept Dream Girl's recorded visions of the future.

**File Found. Breep!**

...

_Potter's Field, Somewhere in New York, Earth-22_

"Pick up the pace, Dreadknight!"

It is a dark night, out in the woods. The woman was sobbing for her life. The man in the skull mask made a comforting sound. "There, there. Would you like to her a poem that always relaxes me?" "Please, l-let me go."

"_Here comes a candle to light up your bed. Here comes a chopper to chop off your head!_"

WHACK!

"There. Another lamb for the slaughter." Dreadknight says as he wipes the blood off his lance on his cape. The head of Rebecca Sharpe, formerly the villain called Hazard, rolls into the pool of blood dug out beyond the field. The villain called Blacklash checks off Rebecca's name on a list. "That's the last one. Blizzard! Whirlwind! Get moving!"

The arctic villain called Blizzard and the wind manipulator named Whirlwind started to drag the headless corpse over to the pool, and dump it in. It goes in with a big splash.

"Heh heh heh. Come on in, the water's fine." Blizzard jokes in his nasally tone. An eyeball bobs up to the surface. "Here's lookin' at you, kid." Whirlwind spoke in that Brooklyn accent of his. The two started to laugh at their own little humor. "Would you two jokers shut up and help me move this thing?!" Dreadknight barked at them.

"What's your problem?" Blizzard asked. He and Whirlwind walked over to help Dreadknight move a dirt covered crate, freshly unearthed from the ground. "Yeah, someone stick that lance up your ass?" "I just don't want to have to spend another minute in this godforsaken universe." Dreadknight voiced his concerns in that British accent of his. "This whole Multiverse is nothing more than apathy and overdone violence."

Blacklash looked up from his list. "What's wrong? I thought you enjoyed pain and destruction." The three started to heave the box over to the pool. "Pain, _nhn_, yes. Destruction, _hnn_, why not? Not endless moaning about how my wife was killed by some overeager clown with thinning hair. 'Oh, no one likes me anymore! I think I'll run away to the North Pole!' Boo hoo hoo."

"But that's what I like about this universe." The four turned to the headlights of a car. "The villains know how to get inside someones head." "Ah, Hypnotia, my sweet. You look as enchanting as ever." Dreadknight dropped his end of the crate and rushed over to kiss her hand. "How is it even in a graveyard you're able to light up the night." "Save the libido for prom night." she jerked her hand away.

Hypnotia, Blacklash, Dreadknight, Whirlwind, and Blizzard. Five underlings to the villain called the Mandarin, arch-foe of Iron Man, on a world where the next step in evolution has started to take place. A world far away from this Multiverse.

"Is that the last one?" she turned to Blacklash, and spoke to him in that breathy, seductive voice.

"Hazard, Icicle, Artemis, and Wizard. All four." "Good boy", Hypnotia practically whispered it in his ear, his heart skipped a beat. "You have her?"

The three with the box stood it upright. "You know, you have to respect someone who would go to such extremes to ruin just one person." Hypnotia said as the cracked open the crate, and the body poured out.

"It's what makes them a better class of villain."

The corpse that was in that box now low sprawled out on the field. Skin, black and rotting. Organs, being eaten away by maggots, worms, and any other type of bug that managed to crawl through the box. Limbs are disconnected, eyes turning into pus, muscles deteriorating, and spine snapped.

"Dump her in the pool."

The pool. The pool filled with human blood. Blood from four bodies, and blood stolen from banks and hospitals. Seven feet deep.

"How exactly is this going to bring her back?" Blizzard ask. "Yes, Hypnotia, you and the Mandarin were quite sketchy on the details." Blacklash informed. "You're doubting me?" she asked as she placed her cheek on his face, and he practically glowed. "Well, I-oof!" he said as Dreadknight knocked him down. "Oops. Pardon me." The other two snickered as Blacklash scowled. "Oh, very well, I suppose you should know."

Hypnotia walked over to the edge of the pool and looked down into it.

"There exists an emotional spectrum throughout this Multiverse. Rage, avarice, fear, willpower, hope, compassion, and love. Lined up like a pretty little rainbow. All living, breathing, manifestations of life. And at the end, the absence of emotion. Only on New Earth is it starting to be realized."

"What?" Blizzard asks. "A prophecy, of light and death." Hypnotia begins to explain the spectrum, as told to her by another, with a somewhat orange tint in her eyes.

"Willpower has been harnessed by the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force centered on the planet Oa by the Guardians of the Universe. Fear has been focused by the efforts of the renegade Lantern, Sinestro, to bring order with his Sinestro Corps on Qward. Love has been touched by the Zamarons, a race of female aliens who believe that love's violet light will protect the universe, with their Star Sapphires. Ganthet and Sayd, once members of the Guardians of the Universe, they have been forced out, and now create their own Blue Lanterns with the intent to inspire hope for the future because, as they say, 'life is sacred'. Hmmph. On the planet Ysmault, Atrocitus, a member of the alien terrorist cell called the Empire of Tears, has finally expressed the rage in his heart through the Red Lantern, and the Red Lantern Corps, in revenge for the slaughter of his people in Sector 666 by the Manhunter androids thousands of years ago. Soon, shamans will start to rise, using the Indigo Lantern to spread compassion and goodwill. And then, Agent Orange will manipulate his Orange Lantern to fulfill his endless greed. The further away from the center, the more influence the power has over the user."

"I thought these rings only worked on the living?" Whirlwind was confused.

"That's the thing. She was never dead to begin with. Neon's gift to his daughter and onto her daughter. Kind of in between, chained, left to wander but still able to feel your body rot. The ring won't tell the difference."

They hold the rotted corpse in their hands.

"It's easy. You just have to be a living corpse."

They heave the corpse into the pool.

From within, the body just floats aimlessly in the pool, among viscera, brain matter, and broken bodies. The only movement found is as the hair and skin float in the liquid trench. It sinks down to the bottom, slowly, slowly. And then...

_Ba-Bum_.

Their is motion in the coppery cesspool. Bubbles begin to rise, slowly, then more rapidly, until the whole mass is a bubbling stew pot. The onlookers gaze in growing anticipation and pants-soiling fear. Then, still.

"What if it-" "Wait. Look."

And the lantern begins to break the surface. Boiling hot metal forged from human blood. And, she rises. The ring speaks.

**Marcie Cooper. There is great rage in your heart.**

**_"AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!"_**

**Welcome, Red Lantern**.

Red light and ear-piercing screams fill the night as the corpse emerges with the ring of the red light of rage, blood pouring, no, vomiting, out of the rotted mouth and it's pores. The others are splashed with blood from the violent action in the pool.

**Pain**_,_ the ring brings.

Her diseased and rotting insides are violently ejected from her mouth as she screams and burned in the crimson light coming out of it's eyes and mouth.

**Burn**_,_ the ring orders.

The maggots and insects spill into the pool and are melted away. The violent light now sends liquid fire coursing through her veins.

**Death**_,_ the ring mocks.

_"**AAAAHHH!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!!**"_

She convulses in the air, her black withered limbs twisting and twitching and her eyes rapidly blinking like a ragdoll having a seizure.

**Hatred**_,_ the ring needs.

And, the transformation starts as the crimson light washes over her body and smooths over skin, revitalizing it to a healthy pink, smooth as a baby's bottom. Her bones and joints are reconnected as the de-aging begins and she becomes a woman twenty-years younger. Blonde hair and blue eyes. And her heart. The ring is now her heart, not that useless wad of tissue. The scar on her chest of the ring's symbol, forms.

**Blood**_, _the ring feeds.

She is still screaming. And the memories come back. Of her failure and her demise.

**Rage**_,_ the ring _is_.

"Do you remember? Do you fully remember who you are?" Hypnotia asks.

"_Yesssss..._" she hisses at her. "Do you remember the pain you've suffered for so many years?" "_YESSSSS...." _"And do you remember the one responsible for all your pain and misery?" "_**YES**!"_

"Then say it! Say the oath that forms in your mind, and you will have your cold and perfect vengeance on her! You will have your vengeance with those who will fight by your side and at your command! You will have vengeance on those people and that world that mock your existence, and you will throw that world and many others into a glorious revolution of pain and destruction that will last through the blackest night and beyond eternity! Say the words! Say it! Say it! SAY IT NOW!!!!!"

Eyes still glowing, she has the red ring on her hand, and she punches it into the light emitting from the lantern. And she recites the oath as the words flow from her mouth like so much blood.

**Hatred**_. _**Suffering**_. _**Vengeance**_._

"**_With blood and rage of crimson red... ripped from a corpse so freshly dead... together with MY hellish hate... I'LL burn you all-- THAT IS YOUR FATE!!"_**

And with that, there is an explosion of red light, it surrounds them like fire and the pool of blood evaporates.

"Marvelous..." is the only word Dreadknight breathes. In the smoking crater, she lays in a heap. Hypnotia begins to walk forward, slowly, until, she rises.

"Do you know who you are?"

"Yes. I... I'm Marcie Cooper."

Clad in red and black, bearing her lantern's symbol, a top hat on her blonde hair, and goggles similar to the ones she wore in the old days.

"I am the Harlequin." Hypnotia's eyes lit up.

"Now, what's this about that bitch?" "In due time", Hypnotia said, "but first, you must meet the man responsible for your wonderful rebirth." "Who, Santa Claus?" "No no no. There is only one name he wants you to call him." "What?"

"End of the World."

BOOM! Thunder claps. And here comes the rain again.

...

Rokk played the dream file. And it started out, as the introduction of a news program.

_"Shadow Girl Swingin' Report Show!"_

**Artistic Direction: Chiho Saito, Kunihiko Ikuhara, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Mark Waid, Alex Ross, Stan Lee, J.K. Rowling, Naoko Takeuchi, M. Alice LeGrow, Rod Serling, R.L. Stine, Clive Barker, Mitsukazu Mihara, and Katsuhito Akiyama.**

A bunch of girls behind a news desk, all seen only in silhouette.

"Do you know? Do you know? Have you heard the news?" B-Ko asks, the girl with her hair in a bun. "There was a duel today, on the Metropolis Bridge!" A-Ko says, the girl with the pigtails, "I caught it all on my camera! I saw the raven-haired warrior defeat the spirit, and then she was snatched up into the Bleed!"

"Oh brave heroes, have they begun to suspect that this is a trap?" B-ko worries.

"Never mind that! I saw it." E-Ko informs, she is the girl with the antennae in her hair. "You mean, _it_?" F-ko asks, the girl with lightning bolts in her hair and fear in her voice.

"I was supposed to be watching the Monitors, but I turned my eye for just a second and there it was! The castle in the sky has returned!" E-Ko is frantic in her revelation.

"Then the game has started. Oh brave heroes, beware! To win is to lose!" B-Ko warns. "Is it? Who would the loser be?" A-Ko asks.

"I just don't understand. I do not understand what all the fuss is about. What is it in that castle?" C-Ko asks the six. C-Ko has her hair in a ponytail. We don't see their faces. That's why they're called Shadow Girls.

"Don't you know? In that castle is something eternal..." B-Ko states. "A friendship, perhaps? Or preservation?" C-Ko asks.

"The power to create life..." E-ko states. "From death? Or unfulfilled potential?" C-Ko asks.

"The power of to change your very being..." F-ko states. "To change for your love? Or to stay young?" C-Ko asks.

"That which shines..." B-Ko states. "A perfect life form?" Or a pure relationship between brother and sister?" C-Ko asks.

"The power of miracles..." E-Ko states. "For yourself? Or for your love?" C-Ko asks.

"The power to bring the world revolution..." F-Ko states. "To destroy it? Or to rule it?" C-Ko asks.

"The power to become a prince!" All four say.

"But the prince must wake up... and be reunited with the princess!" C-Ko excalims.

"_Look, this isn't easy for me to say, but, I care about you..._" a violet background, a girl with red eyes hugging a girl with holding a necklace. New.

"_You gave a sense of meaning, a sense that my life was moving again..._" blue, a girl holding a helmet. New.

"_I'm going to do what I need to do, whether you like it or not..._" green, a girl with sheet music in her arms. New.

"_I have to do what's right, even if it means we might be separated..._" yellow, a girl holding hands with another girl. New.

"_I have to live to my full potential and stop acting like a brat, and that means giving up everything..._" orange, a girl with a flower in her hands. New.

"_So don't try to talk me out of it. I will protect you, all of you, and..._" red, Ebony Dent, looking at two different versions of the Legion founders. New.

"_I'm gonna be a prince! Hear me?!_" a pink haired girl, wielding a sword against the one called End of the World. Old.

"_Grant me the power...!._" a violet haired girl. New. And they all say,

_"TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE WORLD!"_

The bells start to ring. The instructions play out on the screen, how to find them, then, two worlds. And then, the song begins...

_Let's live our lives heroically, let's live them with style,_

_(Just a long, long time)_

_And if the two of us should ever be separated..._

_(Let go of me)_

_take my revolution._

_In the sunlit garden, we held hand in hand._

_We drew close for comfort, and swore that neither one of us would ever fall in love again._

_(Every time)_

_I see that picture of us, smiling to cheek to cheek._

_I look at it, and then loneliness starts to fill me_

_(Revolution!)_

_Even though we dream, even though we cry, even though we get hurt,_

_reality keeps on coming recklessly._

_I wanna find out where I am, the value of being me._

_Gonna take who I've been till now..._

_and find the strength to throw it away._

_Strip down to nothing and become like a rose petal blowing free!_

_Even if the two of us are ever torn apart..._

_I swear that, I will change the world._

Garth let out a long, exasperated sigh. "'I'll go wake up Brainy."

To Be Continued...Martian Heaven

01. _Up In The Sky_

_The Absolute Destiny Apocalypse_

Honest, constructive criticism please.

* * *


	2. 01 Up In The Sky

Disclaimer: I do not own _Legion of Super-Heroes_, _Kingdom Come, Green Lantern, Superman, Batman, Final Crisis, Charlie Brown, Futurama_, or _Revolutionary Girl Utena_. Vi may seem a little OOC, but given the circumstances it's understandable.

_"Once every year, the Black Glove invites you... some of the richest people in the world... to play a game with human lives. It's a long tradition, going way back. But this year we can promise something rather special. We gamble on games of life and death. All the ingredients are here for a spectacular and historic evening... the House of Horrors. The Damsel in Distress. The Broken but Undefeated Hero. And his terrible Nemesis. His Ultimate Foe. Is anyone willing to bet on the triumph of good over evil?"_

_Dr. Simon Hurt, "Batman #680 (Batman R.I.P.: The Thin White Duke of Death")_

* * *

_Two Weeks Ago - Space_

The rubble and wreckage lie still, floating in space. Despite it's attempts, it had been defeated. By _teenagers_, no less. And by the sheer willpower of what it considered the weakest pawn in it's plans. The A.I. called Brainiac 1.0, the Great Terror of Kandor, the Robot Overlord, the most dreaded machine mind in the history of the universe, and sworn enemy to Kal-El of Krypton, known to Earth as Clark Kent, known to the cosmos as the savior Superman. It replays the images in it's disembodied head. Victory had been so sure. Order, complete and total, was the next logical step in it's grand plan. And the death of Superman had been assured. The kryptonite that it delivered should have done it's job. But it was mistaken. And mistakes are something it does not make. But, unlike humans, with their primitive, chaotic way of life, it is aware of the mistakes, however few, it makes. At long last, there is motion amongst the wreckage. The last remaining bits of the robotic shell of Brainiac 1.0 and Brainiac 5 are pulled together by an unseen force. The parts that go together interlock, the parts that are missing it improvises. How did that song go? The one about bones? Ah, it doesn't matter now. What _does_ matter is that a brand new being has entered into this world. This crazed, chaotic, 31st-flavored world called the future.

_They were wrong_, it thinks.

"Evil does not die." The first words spoken out of his new/old mouth, with the voice of his descendant. "It evolves." Brainiac 6 spoke with his own voice.

"_Preparing to transport sentient being._"

The voice came out of nowhere and before it knew it, it was being pulled beyond planets in a flash of red, before landing in the planet Ysmault, a former prison planet which once held the congregation called the Empire of Tears. For centuries, the planet has been desolate of any kind of life after the massive execution that took place in the 25th Century. It starts to gather its thoughts together, and begins to analyze its surroundings. There was no light, no sound save for the wind blowing through the dusty ruins, enshrouded in primordial darkness. There was no plant life, not even weeds, as if the bodies that had decomposed into the ground were not fit to fertilize life. Stars twinkled in the sky. Bones cracked underneath Brainiac's heels as he walked forward.

"Well hey there, stranger."

Brainiac 6 turned it's gaze towards where the voice came from, near an old crucifix. She stepped out from behind it, wrapped in a ragged red aura that pulsated like blood and lit up the dark sky. "How's tricks?" As her mouth opened, it seemed as if she was... _vomiting_ the red energy out. It flowed out of her pores and her mouth, yet rather than chipping away at her skin, the crimson light was actually smoothing her skin and features. She pushed back her blonde hair over her shoulders. He tried to scan her, going over an infinite amount of data per second in it's programming.

_Identification: **Negative**_.

He was set back for a moment, and the women in red seemed to noticed. This had never happened before in his previous history.

"You're identity is unknown to my databanks. Who are you and why have you brought me to this desolate rock?" Brainiac 6 ordered her to speak. He did not know what he was dealing with, but he was prepared to kill her if necessary, or assimilate her if she had any useful knowledge, _then _kill her. She just laughed.

"There will be time for that", she spoke as she walked closer to him without fear, "but first I have a... proposition I'd like to offer".

"I do not think I will listen."

Brainiac's metallic tendrils shot out of his chest towards the glowing figure in order to assimilate her. He did not feel like playing games. She did not show fear, but kept her clownish grin, like a child playing a game. She raised her right hand, and her red aura extended forward, forming a wall that blocked Brainiac's tendrils and promptly dissolved them.

"Must you? Here _I _am trying to have a civilized conversation and here _you _are trying to assimilate me into you hard drive."

Keeping her posture, the woman's aura extended towards Brainiac 6, taking new form, bearing resemblance to the unspeakable atrocities which have littered the works of H.P. Lovecraft and theological texts found only on the planet Tartarus.

"Really. You may have Brainiac's mind but you hardly know what to do with it."

She mocked him and waved her finger at him disapprovingly like a mother to her . Then she narrowed her eyes and her smile disappeared. Her voice became cold.

"And I don't think you want to go treading in my mind. It's not a very fun place for boys and girls."

And just like that her smile returned.

"Now then. About my proposition. I know we don't know each other well enough and you probably have quite reasonable fears concerning commitment, but I am prepared to offer you the one thing you crave, above everything else, more than the desire for revenge, a desire I know well enough about, rotting in that silicon soul of yours." Her eyes widen.

"Information."

She held her hands and red energy pulsated out of her right hand, forming energy constructs of miniature Earth after Earth. She began to juggle them.

"A vast and infinite repository of information. On worlds far beyond and far advanced than this one. Some similar in detail and some vastly different, no two worlds truly alike. Worlds dead and worlds just born in the embryo of space. Matter and anti-matter reflections. Alternate dimensions, timelines, pocket universes. From the beginning of the void to the end of time. Never-ending information for all of eternity."

"Impossible", he flat out denied.

"Oh it's very possible my Coluan chum. And it all depends on answering one question."

With a flick of the wrist the earths disappeared, then she extended her glowing right hand to Brainac. On her hand were two rings, the first bore a symbol made up of a circle with two lines on both sides standing up and curving outwards at the top. The second bore a pink rose crest.

The engine reved up and the headlights turned on behind her.

"How would you like to revolutionize the world?"

_Two Weeks Ago - Earth, New Metropolis, HQ of the Legion_

They defeated the computer mastermind from digitizing the universe. They swore in Kell-El, a.k.a Superman X, the Superman clone from the 41st Century. They watched the return of Duo Damsel's third self, wiped away by time-negating antimatter 1000 years from now and brought back as the timeline fixed itself. And they watched as Brainiac 5, now Brainiac 5.1, left for parts unknown to figure out all his new emotions, brought out by the human body he had gained after his machine form was destroyed. They are the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Inspired by the legend of Superman, the great hero of the 21st Century, Rokk Krinn of Braal, Garth Ranzz of Winath, and Imra Ardeen of Titan, formed a team of super-powered teenagers, financed by the insanely rich R.J. Brande, and dedicated to preserving truth, justice, and peace throughout the universe.

Despite the new members coming and the old members leaving, the new HQs and the new enemies. No matter how old they may get, one thing remains the same. The friendship between the three founders of the Legion.

Rokk, like all natives of the poor planet Braal, had mastery over metal thanks to a natural ability to magnetize and control all metal objects. He had short black hair that could've been a crew-cut and purple eyes. He was called Cosmic Boy.

Imra, like all natives of Saturn's moon Titan, was born with an advanced telepathic mind. She had long blonde hair and pink eyes, eyes that were larger than a normal Earthling's but standard for a Titanian. She was called Saturn Girl.

Garth, however, gained the ability to generate and fire electricity after he and his siblings were attacked by the Lightning Beasts of Korbal. He had shaggy red hair and a goatee, electric blue eyes and a lightning bolt scar over his right eye, and a metal right arm. He was called Lightning Lad.

It was later that day, and the sun was going down. Lightning Lad was flying all over HQ, looking for the two, to discuss the ramifications of Brainy's leaving the Legion. He finally found them in the control room. So...

Imagine his surprise to see the two wrapped in a romantic embrace.

Cue _Rinbu Revolution, TV Size, by Masami Okui_.

**Virtual Star Embryology: Martian Heaven**

**01. Up in the Sky**

...

_My name is Ebony Dent. And I, I think I might've done something stupid. But, I feel like I'm... falling. Falling like rain. I don't know if I'm up or down. When will I reach the bottom? IS there a bottom?_

The Bleed. The space between dimensions. The arteries between universes, that one can find on the very edge of their universe. The cracks in reality that separate the Multiverse and all of its 52 earths, built on top one another like an inverted Christmas tree. And she alone is falling through the cracks. In a moment of hopeless desperation, Ebony Dent opened up to a total stranger following that revelation that Kansas was destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. And that stranger offered Ebony the chance to win the power to revolutionize the world by fighting in sword duels. Ebony admitted that she would fight for that chance if she could, knowing what kind of world she lived in, where people were too afraid to leave the homes for fear that atomic vigilantes and harlequin biker gangs would be waging turf wars right around the corner. A world where crime ran free because there wasn't enough people doing anything. What would you expect her to answer? She's only human, after all. And humans do make mistakes. And realizing those mistakes can have a grander effect on us then we could ever imagine, for better or worse. When word was spread that the disheveled personification of the American Way was holding a Japanese school girl hostage with a sword aimed at her throat, the only way to stop the blood lust was to agree to duel him on Metropolis Bridge. She won, of course, saw a little something in herself, and learned that it is wrong to blame circumstances for what we do. But, fearing what any of the other "duelists" who might have been chosen, and what they would do if they won, she decided to stay in the game, to protect the lives of others, to revolutionize the world. Funny to think that by the time she learned that she was sucked into the Bleed. Is it funny? Maybe. Probably. No. Now, seventeen year-old Ebony Dent, a.k.a. the vigilante called X, is being thrown upwards through the Multiverse. Beyond her homeworld Earth-22, and upwards through the Bleed and past thirty other Earths. Past Earth-24, where the Super-Man watches over the clockwork city of Metropolis. Past Earth-35, where pastor Alex Luthor has branded the latest newcomer to Salem, Mas., Clark Kent, as a servant of Beelzebub. She can't move, or speak, she might as well be totally unconscious. But that would make this story a little boring. How long will it take before she finally crash lands at her destination, pre-programmed by the puppet master and his little underlings? Who knows?

When...

_..._

It's been two weeks since Brainiac 5 left, and that's taking it's toll on Vi. Salu Digby of Imsk, a.k.a. the black-haired, pale skinned Shrinking Violet or "Vi" to her friends, was forced to pick up where Brainy had left behind. Vi had been good friends with Brainy while he was in the Legion, and she was hit as hard as the others when she learned that he left. Despite what happened, Vi didn't care about what he did while he was under the influence of his ancestor, Brainiac 1.0, Brainy was still her friend. Most of the other Legionnaires felt the same way, with the understandable exception of some. But that had little to do with his decision. She now hoped that wherever he was, he was alright, and that he was happy. Vi had just started prepping up COMPUTO for the fourth time today and was now doing research on a rogue black OPs science squad from the Dominion, the home world of the Dominators. Since Brainy left, Vi was the only member of the Legion who came the closest to understanding how to work the vast supercomputer, but she was nowhere near the same I.Q. as Brainy. Nonetheless, the Legion's fearless leader Cosmic Boy had put her in charge of COMPUTO'smanagement, as well as working out Legion schedules, information retrieval and scanning, 3D blueprint schematics for super-villain hardware and the Legion cruiser, creating virtual scenarios for future battles and the best way of winning them, and finishing up whatever leftover inventions Brainy left behind for the Legion's benefit. Vi had not slept in over four days. There were rings under her bloodshot eyes, she hadn't changed her uniform, and she hadn't showered. There was practically no energy left within her, and she was now on her fifth pot of coffee. While Vi was usually cheery and pleasant to be with, if you could call the mood she was in pleasant then there's something wrong with you. Fatigue was setting in, and she was becoming irritable. The scowl on her face from sleep withdrawal was becoming permanent. What made matters worse was the she was having trouble cracking the firewall on this website, until finally the screen went black and rebooted itself. She looked up from the screen and began to mutter to herself.

"Violet do this, Violet do that. Violet patch me in to Senator Whatshisface or Vice President Whoopdeedo so I can beg for a loan to buy a new Satellite TV. Violet I need you to come up with the armor specs for the Conquering Army of Blahblahblah from the Third System of Whatever, oh and while you're at it could you get me a cup of coffee if you're not too busy-Dammit I am not a machine!" She scowled and started to tug at her hair. "How did Brainy manage to do all this?!"

"This a bad time?"

Vi looked over at the doorway to the lab. It was Nura Nal, a.k.a. the silver-haired, silver-eyed Dream Girl, and she was looking almost as tired as Vi did. Ever since Brainiac had digitized the Legionnaires and then brought them back, Dream Girl was sleeping erratically, and since she could see the future through her dreams, Cosmic Boy made sure that every time she started to nod off she would go have her dreams analyzed by COMPUTO, or at least her memories of the dream if she had trouble remembering them when she woke up.

"It's not the _best_ time, that's for sure." Vi again muttered under her breath. "Sorry, but this has been driving me crazy." Vi yawned. "Four nights and counting. This would be so much easier if Lyle were here, or..." Vi trailed off and bit her lip. Dream Girl gave her a look of understanding.

"Well you know he's undercover at that Dominion base." Dream Girl reminded her before any more depressing thoughts leaked in.

"Oh, right. Isn't today when Cos sends in that team?" Vi asked.

"Yep." Dream Girl replied. Vi yawned, and Dream Girl looked a little envious at her.

"You're lucky." Dream Girl told her.

"_I'm_ lucky? You're the one whose only job is to sleep." Vi muttered.

"Yeah, well, when you sleep you don't have to worry that the dream where your friends get their heads ripped off by a seven-foot sludge monster from the Planet of Infinite Horrors isn't going to come true." There was a pause.

"Was that a joke?"

"Kinda."

"It stank." Vi did her little laugh/snort thing she always did. It felt good to laugh after a while. She motioned to Dream Girl to hand her the pot of coffee on the desk next her and Dream Girl obliged. After finishing off the final pot. Vi started to warm up the machine that analyzed Dream Girl's dreams. Dream Girl stifled a yawn as she lied down on the machine and started to nod off.

"Okay, let's do this", Vi turned on the screens. The screen instantly went from black, and went to the cue card of a local news station.

"_Shadow Girls' Swingin' Report Show!"_

"... and that's when he noticed that he wasn't wearing any pants_!_" the two girls on screen were seated at a table and laughing at what the first girl had just said. The first girl, was wearing her hair with what looked an antennae. The second girl had her hair done up in what appeared to be lightning bolts. Both could only be seen as silhouettes.

"If you're just tuning in, I'm E-ko...", the first girl spoke.

"And I'm F-Ko!" the second girl finished.

"Well we're actually the subconscious manifestations of the Naltorian ability to predict the future during REM sleep, but what are you gonna do?"

"Anyway, I have got a biiig scoop! Word is that there is a secret triangle between the founders of the Legion of Super-Heroes. This is raising controversy among its many fan girls and boys. This has actually helped with Cosmic Boy's falling popularity, since the public has been saying 'he's got the IQ of a butternut squash', which just so happens to be my favorite winter vegetable!", E-Ko said.

"Ohhh, but I have an even more controversial videotape! This is a very scandalacious videotape." F-Ko said as she waved a videotape in her hand.

"Is that the right video?" E-ko asked.

F-Ko replied "Yes, with a soundtrack we added in. The title of our presentation is 'Someday, Together We'll Shine'."

F-Ko slid the tape inside of a VCR and pressed some buttons.

"Here, we, go!"

Vi was confused. Was this all the Legion would have to deal with in the future. Romance issues?

COMPUTOS's screen turned to static when-

"_Charlie Brown, if Kris Kross were here, they'd call you a 'miggedy-miggedy-miggedy-miggedy mac, fa-_"

"Oops!"

F-Ko ripped the tape out of the VCR and started pulling the film out. E-ko was taping her nails on the table impatiently. F-ko slid another tape inside,

"Here, we, go!"

COMPUTO's screen turned to static again, for just a few seconds, until the screen was replaced with a border made up of four, twirling rose symbols, and a curtain began to rise.

"_Once upon a time, many years ago..._"

_..._

Lightning Lad yawned and put his head down on the table.

"Rough night?" Brin Londo, a.k.a. the furry, black-and-white striped haired Timber Wolf asked. They were in the kitchen. In front of Garth was a steaming mug of coffee he didn't even bother to lift. Brin was making double-chocolate chip cookies for losing a bet to Phantom Girl. And Mysa Nal, a.k.a. the white-skinned, white-haired, red-eyed White Witch, was over at the other end of the table, quietly cutting a deck of tarot cards and drinking tea. The TV was on. Garth lifted his head up to face Brin.

"Yeah, you could say that. I had some weird dream that woke me up in the middle of the night and I couldn't get back to sleep until like 4 AM."

"What was it about?" Garth was tracing the tip of the mug with his metal finger and looking into the black liquid.

"That's the thing. I can't remember."

"Huh? Well, how do you know it was weird if you can't remember it?" Brin asked.

"If you woke up in a cold sweat wouldn't you say you had a weird dream?" Garth asked back. The lupine Legionnaire thought about it for a second.

"Good point." He told him as he put the tray in the oven.

"_However, in this reporter's opinion, GRUESOME DEATH AWAITS US ALL!!"_

"Hey Brin, you mind changing the channel?" At that request Brin changed the station from Comedy Central to SKU News.

"_...so finally the police the body inside the elementary school cafeteria, along with the blueprints and the lower half of the fossilized remains of Roseanne Barr."_

"You ever gonna take to Saturn Girl about what happened?" Brin sat down across from Garth.

"Why? She's with Rokk now." Garth sighed. "Like I ever had a chance." Now Brin decided to be the voice of experience, from his little triangle with Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy.

"Oh please. Stop assuming the worst possible thing has already happened. Oh, scartch that. The worst possible thing would be if she was pregnant."

"PREGNANT?!"

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Brin. Mysa looked up from her cards and giggled at the red-faced Winathian, and the cowering wolf boy who was regretting with every fiber of his being what he just said.

"Who's pregnant?"

Speak of the devil. In flew Saturn Girl. Mysa giggled under her breath again at Saturn Girl's clueless look as to why Garth looked like he wanted to kill Brin.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"No." Garth said through gritted teeth.

"Then can we walk and talk."

Garth looked at Brin, then at Imra.

"I guess." He sighed, and the two walked into the hall to talk. There was a stream of ice in the air for five minutes before Imra spoke up.

"Look, I can explain what happened."

"No need to explain." Garth cut her off.

"Garth-" She tried to say.

"Hey, it's not up to me who you date." He nonchalantly told her.

"Garth! I am not dating him. It was just..." she trailed off.

"Yeah...?" He leaned in to hear what she was going to say.

"Tension." Imra finally said.

"Tension. Right." Garth rolled his eyes. He turned around so she couldn't see his face.

"We've been through a lot the last few months."

"You don't see me grabbing Dream Girl and kissing her."

"Why Dream Girl?" Imra raised an eyebrow. Whoops.

"N-no reason."

"Right. So it's okay for you to fantasize about girls you hate, but it's not okay for me to kiss a friend."

"First of all, I don't hate Nura. And second, I'm your friend too!" He turned around to face her. "And that wasn't just a 'kiss'. You two were going at it like starved dogs."

"Garth!" Her face turned red and she wanted to slap him. He regretted what he said.

"Sorry. Bad choice of words. But you know that I, I care about you too!"

"You never say how you feel to me!"

"Oh come on! You're a mind reader!" Garth exclaimed.

"I don't want to hear it in your mind. I want to hear it come out of your mouth."

Garth turned to her, and saw the sadness in her eyes. He stopped scowling.

"Imra, I-"

"Saturn Girl it's time."

Oh great. He just had to come at this moment. Cosmic Boy flew in. Imra was going on the same mission as Invisible Kid was on. The raid on the Dominion lab.

"We'll talk later."

"Yeah, I guess. Be safe." She was touched that he said that, and flew off. The two boys were alone in the hall now. Garth narrowed his eyes at Rokk.

"Don't look so smug, Rokk."

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"You've gotta be enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Come off it Garth. You now how I've felt about her." Rokk told him.

"Yeah, well you don't deserve her." Garth glared.

"What?" Rokk was getting mad now.

"You heard me. You. Don't. Deserve. Her." He spelled it out for Rokk as he got right up in his face.

"And you would be a better candidate?" Rokk asked, his arms folded across his chest before he pushed Garth away.

"Maybe. I don't know. But Imra doesn't deserve someone who's head is so far up his ass-"

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black. And anyway, if Saturn G-"

"Imra! Her name is Imra! When was the last time you called her by her first name instead of Saturn Girl?" Garth questioned.

"I'll call her what I want when I want. And why would she want a guy who's always snapping at everyone else every second of every day?"

"You know I don't act like that all the time, and besides, my screw-ups are nothing compared to what you've done."

"Like what?"

Garth began to list the reasons to Rokk.

"You disappear for months at a time, you treated Karate Kid like a pariah when he got here-

"You did the same thing!" Rokk pointed out.

"I thought that since he didn't have powers that made him an instant target. You and Nemesis Kid were treating him like a mentally-challenged five year-old. You suck up to delegates and congressmen like a sprocking yes-man-"

"I'm getting the Legion respectability! You think it's so easy for us to run around the galaxy, well it isn't. You don't have to deal with sprocking bylaws and red-tape at every sprocking corner! I do!"

"We're superheroes! We're always breaking the law every second we wear these outfits! If we cared about breaking the law every time we saved someone, guess what? No more 31st Century!"

"And then after we're done saving the world we get thrown in jail! Is that what you want?"

"Well let's not forget the six months you spent sucking up to that coniving witch Jean Chu, after she rigged the elections and almost sold off every single planet to the Dark Circle. Remember that? Huh?"

"OKAY! FINE! WE GET THE POINT! DO YOU MIND?!"

The two stopped arguing and looked around. They had taken the argument out of the hall and into the lounge area. And they were annoying ever other Legionnaire in the room with their triad of insults. Garth sighed.

"I'm going."

"Where?" Rokk demanded.

"Somewhere you aren't." And with that, he flew off towards the exit. Rokk gave the others a look, who had gotten on with their business, before flying off to the control center, and started to lament the situation.

"Perfect Rokk. You really handled that one smoothly."

Garth finally made it to the entrance, before someone called out to him.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Mysa was behind him, and she held a card in her hands. Garth gave her an odd look before he took it.

"_The Star_." He read the name alloud. There was a woman, holding two pitchers of water, one spilling on the ground, the other pouring into a pond. She was looking up at the sky, and there were eight stars above her. "What's this mean?" Garth asked. She smiled.

"Hope." He ruefully smirked.

"Thanks, Mysa." And then he hurried off. Mysa looked at the card, and looked at the one she had drawn early that morning.

"_The Fool_." Was she talking about him?

And in a ship, Imra was thinking about them and the current situation.

"Why can't he just say it?"

_..._

Below, in a filthy laboratory, two scientists discuss the future.

"We've got to hurry. The project iss falling behind and the pressentation iss almosst due." The Dominator scientists had been slaving away endlessly on this top-secret project, one which cost hours and hours or hard work and was worth quiet a pretty penny or whatever the hell they use for currency in the 31st Century.

"Ssince the death of Imperiex, thingss have become hectic. With the dessimation of sso many of our brethren by the Coluan child, we do not have the ssheer brain power we ussed to."

Dominator Scientist Mdolga spoke. "It iss indeed grim for the Dominion. Nevertheless, our current financer would like to make ssure that our sseeds are well taken care of." finished Dominator Scientist Rflen. The two scientists had the largests discs on their foreheads, outranking every other Dominator at the base. This was the way of the Dominion.

Mdolga asked Rflen "How goess our little garden?"

Rflen replied "Ssadly we are down to five."

"Five?!"

"The resst have either been killed or the failures ssold off to the Khundss. You heard what happened to Awkqun and the Foxmoor boy the other day."

"The fool forgot to turn on the power dampenerss when handling the boy. Fkwet made the ssame misstake with Bonita." Rflen shivered at the thought of Fkwet's mess.

Mdolga sighed, and asked "Have they cleaned the messs yet?"

Rflen turned to his companion and said "they haven't been able to get all the blood out."

Mdolga rubbed the space between his eyes. "Well, how goess the cloning ressearch? Hass the _human _been able to meet her deadline?" There was such contempt in Mdolga's voice at the thought of a human scientist working with the Dominion.

"Sshe'ss promissed ressultss at the end of the hour." Rflen laughed after finishing his sentence. Rflen turned his attention to the screens on the right, which showed five teenagers in one big room.

"Sstill, our employer hass nothing but the besst hopess for our crop." Mdolga traced the screens with his long, yellow fingers. "Iss it ready yet?"

Rflen reached into his robes and pulled a long, metallic instrument, shaped like a phaser from an old TV show.

"Finisshed thisss morning."

"Then it will sstart."

"Get Londo and hiss pet."

"For the Dominion."

"And our lovely garden."

The two were ready. And so was the invisible boy listening.

...

"Another lovely day in New Metropolis. Nothing bad to report except my love life."

Lightning Lad was flying above the city, looking for a place to think where he wouldn't be noticed. He didn't pay any attention to the storm clouds on the horizon. He finally spotted an empty place. The roof of the Daily Planet building.

"I've really done something stupid, haven't I? Why am I such a moron?"

_You're not stupid. And, well you never have told Imra you loved her. And Rokk has a point. You act like him a lot more than you think_. This was his conscience. Good thing no one else was around to hear him or they'd think he was crazy.

"Maybe. Why can't I just say it?"

_You're a human being. It's only natural that you have some trouble expressing the concept of love to someone you care about_. _You're just afraid she'll reject you. _

"So instead I act like a jerk and flirt with every other girl who floats by. Mysa, Nura, Jeckie..."

_Come on. At least you're not as bad as Dirk._

"She doesn't love me."

_Give her some time, or at least be ready to say it yourself. You wait too long, and you might lose her forever_.

"I don't want that to happen."

The rain began to pour. Thunder boomed and lightning cracked.

"Ah, sprock!"

Lightning Lad tried to get out of the rain but he knew it would take a while before he got back to HQ. He was too preoccupied in his own thoughts, so he didn't pay no mind when he heard the rumbling, which sounded like thunder. And then he stopped, floating in the air, when he saw the lightning tear a hole in the sky and white and red light started to pour out as the pounding noise droned on. His eyes widened.

"The sky. It's, it's bleeding."

The people down below stopped dead in their tracks and pointed up in shock in fear. And that shock was amplified in both them and Lightning Lad when a figure was thrown out through the hole and cast downward. Lightning Lad thought, _Kell? Back from the future?_ when he heard what they were saying downward.

"Look! Up in the sky!"

"It's a bird!"

"It's a plane!"

"It's a... girl?"

Lightning Lad gasped as the the light from around her body dissipated, and we find our heroine, Ebony Dent, being _hurtled down to the ground with no one to catch her!_

The people below cried out for someone to catch her as she fell faster and faster to the Earth below. One could hear vacuum of air around her as she fell. From her perspective, it would appear as though the buildings were actually coming towards her. She finally reached the tips of the tallest building and continued to descend below. Lucky for her, she wouldn't be able to feel it when her head splattered over the pavement, when...

"Gotcha!"

The crowd below let out a collective sigh of relief as the young hero caught the girl in midair. Lightning Lad flew off with Ebony in his arms.

"Don't worry. I've got you." he said to her, unaware that she was unconscious.

"Unh..." Ebony started to stir for a minute. "Wha...?", she tried to say.

_W-where am I?_

"Hold on, let me get you out of the rain." He flew over to the shaded balcony of a nearby apartment. The owners weren't at home at the moment, lucky for them. He laid her down on a folding chair.

Garth pushed back a wet strand of jet-black hair from Ebony's face to get a better look at her, and noticed the claw mark with the dried blood on her cheek, accompanied with her bruised and bleeding hands. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt which read "Dark as the Morning."

_Someone sure did a job on her_, he thought.

Thinking that she would have at least some form of identification, Garth was going to look in her jeans' pocket when she stirred and opened her eyes a little at her savior.

_Huh? Izzat... _Ebony thought until she weakly asked who that was. And the first word was...

"... Shaggy Rogers?"

"Huh?"

Had this been one of those old Japanese cartoons, Garth would've had a big sweatdrop on his head after she said this jab at his appearance.

"N-no, I'm-" he couldn't finish because she let out a moan as she quickly passed back into unconsciousness again and her olive green eyes closed. Her arm hung over the side of the chair and her right hand was on a bare part of her stomach not covered by her t-shirt. Was that a scar?

"Cos, you there?" Lightning Lad spoke into his ring.

"_Garth? What happened?!_".

"Listen, Cos, get Kent to prepare one of the beds in the med-bay." he said eying the claw mark on her right cheek and the cuts on her bruised hands.

"_What? Why?! What happened?!_"

"I'm bringing a guest."

And from inside the highest floor in a very large building, a girl with two brown pigtails watches the two through a pair of opera glasses. Her cellphone rang.

"Hello? Yes, she's landed. I'll call him." The girl dialed a number onto the phone.

"It's me. You're on."

She hung up the phone and placed down her glasses. She looked out the window, and the girl began to laugh maniacally as lightning cut through the sky. The car radio blares the song _Truth _by Luca Yumi.

_So. It begins._

_Missing truth and forever, kissing love and true your heart._

_Hold me in your arms so true._

_The key to opening tomorrow has become a reality._

_I want to keep destroying lies._

_No matter how much we talk, you still can't see anything._

_Excuses are best suited for adults who cling to old stories._

_The angels who weren't chosen don't need wings to fly!_

_Missing truth and forever, kissing love and true your heart._

_I believe in the person I'll be tomorrow_

_I'll believe in myself because I want to,_

_and I want lies to hate me._

To Be Continued... Martian Heaven

**02. Lightning Strikes Twice**

**Ebony VS Persuader**

_The Absolute Destiny Apocalypse_


	3. Rules of the Rose Seal

Disclaimer: I do not own Legion of Super-Heroes or Utena.

This is an interlude chapter, describing the rules of the dueling game as I've changed them for the fic. I'm working on Chapter Two, and VBabe, expect cameos from some familiar characters, and an appearance by Kell at the end of the second chapter.

* * *

_The Rules of the Rose Seal_

These are the rules of the dueling game, as stipulated by End of the World. This game is a sword-dueling competition between like-minded individuals who wish to change their lives, and their worlds, and crave the power to do so.

Only those who are strong enough, and brave enough, have the will to tap into the Power of Dios, the very power to revolutionize the world, locked in the castle in the sky, and could ever hope of winning. Be grateful End of the World has chosen you.

The rules of combat, and the rose seal, are very simple. Follow them, and victory shall be yours. If not, well, know this game isn't for children.

1. A duel may only be conducted between those who bear the rose crest. No exceptions will be made.

The rose crest is a white ring bearing a pink rose symbol. The rings may only be handed out by those chosen by end of the world, and may only be given out by End of the World or his associates.

2. Each duelist must use a sword in battle.

The rules of battle are simple. One may use a sword, or in some cases a sword and dagger set. No other weapons are allowed in combat.

3. Each duelist is given a rose before the start of the duel. The object of the duel is to knock the rose from your opponent's chest.

At the start of the duel each duelist is given a rose, pinned to their breast. After the bells have rung, each duelist must fight with one another, until one has managed to cut their opponent's rose off.

4. Each duelist may or may not use a rose bride in battle. The choice is up to you.

A "bride" is one who has a special connection with a duelist. One who has ties to their heart. It is up to the duelist if they wish to share the Power of Dios with them.

5. At the end of each duel, the loser's rose crest shall be destroyed, thus stripping them of their title as a duelist.

A brand new rule, not known in the old dueling game. This transforms the game into an elimination style tournament. When one loses, their ring turns to dust.

6. If both duelists lose their rose at the same time, the duel shall be forfeited.

Another new rule. Such a thing has never happened before, and it is unknown if it ever will happen.

7. If a duelist dies, their rose crest shall turn black.

The black rose crest has its own code of combat pertaining to dueling. In this style of combat, the loser and their engaged shall be slaughtered.

If any of the rules mentioned above are broken, or if the proper instructions are not met, the consequences will be dire. For you and everyone around you.

Know that End of the World is aware of what happens in the game. And do not try to deny that you are not the kind of person who would fight in a game of human lives. End of the world knows exactly what kind of person you are, no matter how much you pretend to the contrary. Don't kid yourself.


End file.
